


Emergency Protocol 27-8

by Nanerich



Series: Ironfam [16]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety, Depression, Gen, Ironfamily, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Peter Parker, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23132074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nanerich/pseuds/Nanerich
Summary: With Tony being close to spiraling into a panicky and depressive episode, all that while both Pepper and Rhodey are out of reach, there is only one thing that can be done: Emergency Protocol 27-8.
Relationships: Happy Hogan & Pepper Potts & James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Ironfam [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1528625
Comments: 24
Kudos: 293





	Emergency Protocol 27-8

“Hey Happy, what's going on?” Pepper was only slightly worried, getting out of her meeting and being met with 9 missed calls. Could mean nothing, Happy was quite the over-eager head of security.

“How long will you be in LA?”

”Three more days, why?”

“Code Wormhole.”

“Shit.”

With a backstory like Tony's a whole rat's nest full of mental issues wasn't surprising. It was extremely worrying, though. Especially, since it's what tends to drive him right back to alcohol and who knows what else. (Pepper knew, but that was nothing she ever wanted to witness the man she loved in ever again.)

Since Tony wasn't keen on getting help or having anybody know about what he deemed weaknesses, and therefore be able to look out for him, Pepper, Rhodey and Happy had created their coding system. And Code Wormhole could only mean that the bottle of whiskey was dangerously close to being opened and chugged as if it were water.

“I can't get through to him and Rhodes won't be back until late tonight, so...”

“Even if I hop on a plane right now, I won't be much faster.”

“What then?”

There was only one thing they could do. “Emergency Protocol 27-8.”

“Of course! Why didn't I think of that! Consider it done”, he assured her.

“Keep me updated, alright? Not that 27-8 ever failed, but just in case, then I'll come home on the next flight.”

“Sure thing.”

*

“HIII MR STARK!”

The high-pitched squeal startled Tony so much, he almost dropped the – still closed – bottle of whiskey he was holding. There was no time for him to properly deal with it, almost immediately Tony was all but tackle-hugged.

“Hey Pete”, he greeted the brown curls tickling his chin. “Did I miss lab day or something?”

“No, no, no”, Peter was quick to assure him and, without letting go, looked up at Tony. “Just wanted to come by and say hi. So, hi!”

“That's sweet, but today's not really a good day...”

As much as Tony loved having the kid around, right now just wasn't a time Tony should or even wanted to be around anybody, especially somebody who looked up to him. The bottle of whiskey he was still holding seemed to burn against the palm of his hand as if it wanted to remind Tony of exactly that – him being too much of a broken disaster to be able to look out for that boy.

“You're right, today is horrible”, Peter agreed, untangled himself from Tony and trotted up and down in front of him.

This was going to happen, whether Tony wanted it to or not, so he might as well hear the kid out. And, the sooner Peter was through his... whatever, the sooner Tony'd be left alone and could indulge his misery. “What's up, then?”

“Right, so in three weeks is homecoming”, Peter explained.

“And I assume you'll be going with Michelle.”

“I want to, but... The promposal just needs to be perfect!”, he blurted out as he finally stopped his infuriating pacing.

“But she is your girlfriend, isn't she? Doesn't that already kinda seal the whole thing?” Seriously, for this he had to interrupt his self-blame-train?

“Mr Stark.” The kid looked up with furrowed brows. “You cannot take the person you love for granted.”

Fan-fucking-tastic. The sixteen-year-old tried to school Tony on how to treat loved ones? This day just kept getting worse and worse. “Pete, please, I'm really not in the mood.”

“Sorry, I just thought...” And here come the kicked-puppy-look. Shit, Tony really couldn't do anything right, could he?

“I know”, Tony sighed, “and it's great that you want to do that for your lady. What were you thinking of doing?” Damnit, Tony just let himself get roped in whenever that kid shot him these damn puppy eyes and as much as he'd like to deny it, that boundless spraying creativity was unfortunately contagious.

“MJ isn't that big on those great romantic gestures, so it's gotta be something small, but like still mind-blowingly amazing.”

“That is so sweet of you, but I don't think I'm the one you should ask about that. Ask Pepper, why, she'll tell you how I'm probably the worst partner out there.”

“If that were true, she wouldn't be with you, would she?”

It was probably best not to tell the kid about when Pepper dumped him for that exact reason, and Tony wouldn't be surprised, if she did again. Maybe Tony could make the kid understand another way that he was the wrong person to be bothered about that. “Well then, what exactly about 'I need to do something small' screamed Tony Stark to you?” If there was one thing Tony was good at it was going big. Big drama, big disaster, big explosions – yeah, Tony's your man. But something understated that expressed how much Peter loved that girlfriend of his?

“Because you're the smartest person I know?” The way Peter scrunched his face together would be almost hilariously ridiculous, were it not for the underlying message: Peter didn't get how much of a mess Tony was.

“Let me just stop you right there, kiddo. thanks for the compliment, but...”

“Mr Stark, it wasn't a compliment, it is a true fact, judging from IQ points. So don't deny it, because it's true. If you don't want to help me, fine. We could watch a movie or something”, he suggested with a shrug. Well fuck. Tony really wasn't gonna get through this one.

“Fine. But nothing animated”, he made clear as Peter already jumped up on the couch.

“Not even Frozen?”

“Especially not Frozen.” After putting the never-opened bottle of whiskey away and made his way over to the couch, Tony shot the kid the raised eyebrow. “I do not want to be singing Let It Go in my head for the next week.”

“Fine. Although I think 'Do You Wanna Build A Snowman' is a much more of an earworm”, Peter shrugged. “What about Finding Nemo? I know it's animated but it's not a musical...”

“Does it really matter what I say?”

“Not really, no”, Peter grinned up. “FRI, what time is it?”

“SHOWTIME!”, she declared and the TV screen flared up. Tony still couldn't believe that Peter actually got FRI to think that this was the official announcement for the start of any movie or show. It was quite funny though, Tony definitely was not going to change it. Mostly, because Peter would find a way to reprogram her, no matter what.

Peter didn't look at the screen though; these huge puppy eyes were directed right at Tony, who knew exactly what Peter was asking.

“Fine”, he grumbled and put his arm around Peter's shoulder, letting the teen snuggle it up.

“Yay”, Peter squealed and happily turned his attention to the screen.

Granted, Tony did enjoy it. Maybe a little bit more than he even admitted to himself. And yes, anything with Ellen Degeneres was awesome and tended to be funny, too. So, maybe it was alright for Tony to postpone his self-hating escapades until the kid had gone home again.

.

“Hey, Tones?” Rhodey whispered as he put his head into the living room, where that movie about the trash-robot was playing. Well, animated movie, probably meant that Peter was still here.

“Be quiet, he's sleeping”, the kid hissed back.

“Sorry.” He tiptoed over to the couch, where Tony had his arm around Peter, his chin resting on his chest, snoring moderately in comparison to what Rhodey was used to. “Thanks for looking out for him.”

“Always. Can you do me a favour though?”

“Sure thing, kid.”

“Can you please call or message May and tell her I'll sleep over here? Can't reach my phone”, he shrugged, gesturing with his feet towards his phone on the coffee table.

“FRI?”

“I'm on it”, she agreed and Peter flushed slightly red. “Yeah, could have thought of that...”

“Don't sweat it”, Rhodey chuckled. “So, you got it all under control.”

“Yeah”, he nodded, “I got it.”

“Great. Sleep well, then, if you get a chance to do so”, Rhodey chuckled and waved one more last time.

And, when Happy checked in on the two a little later, he was met with an adorable sight: Peter still tightly enveloped in Tony's arms and now too, fast asleep.

Yeah, Emergency Protocol 27-8 never fails.


End file.
